TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – As I dive into covering the race for governor one of my goals is to try to discover a reason Alabamians should care about this race.

There is a lot of evidence that the public is not paying much attention. Voter turnout in the June party primaries and the July party runoffs was historically low. Part of the reason that was true was that there was no drama in the two party primaries for governor.

While both Republican Gov. Robert Bentley and Democrat Parker Griffith had opposition in the primary, it was token. While that meant neither man had to worry about winning, it also meant that voters didn't have to pay attention and they did not.

I wrote Tuesday that while driving over 300 miles across north Alabama Monday I didn't see so much as one highway or yard sign, bumper sticker or billboard for either candidate for governor. When I bring the race up to people the response I have received is overwhelmingly underwhelming.

Or it has been until Tuesday night when I attended a meeting of University of Alabama College Democrats. I was there to listen as Griffith talked to the group about his candidacy. For almost two hours before he spoke Griffith met in small groups of students taking their questions, listening to their concerns, encouraging their hopes.

Among their top concerns? Finding a job after college; endlessly rising tuition increases; having to go into deep debt to afford school; worry about parents who had lost jobs and had not been able to find new ones.

What struck me about the 70 or 80 students who showed up was how different they looked from most typical campaign crowds. First, they were all young, obviously. And they were diverse. Men and women were almost evenly divided. They were white and black, Hispanic and Asian, Protestant and Catholic, Jewish and some were Muslim.

Griffith noted the makeup of his audience.

"When I look at all of you I see not only Alabama's present, but also Alabama's future," he told them. "I think you are the best hope for our future and our party."

Then the white haired Griffith, who is in his early 7 0's, took a shot at Republicans.

"You know who you don't remind me of? You don't remind me of the Republican Party. Do you know what they look like, especially those in the Legislature? They look like me – white and old and mostly men. In the Legislature the Republicans are 95 percent male, just 5 percent women and women make up 56 percent of Alabama's population. They don't really represent most of the people of Alabama."

When I talked with the students I found almost every one of them worried about something – their grades, their loans, their classes, who would be the Crimson Tide quarterback.

But I also found them filled with care about, of all things, the election.

"Why should people care?" said student Sam Gerard of Montgomery repeating my question with an expression that indicated I might have asked a really stupid thing.

"How can people not care? This is our state. This is our home and we want it to be a good place to go to school, to work, to raise a family and to live, right? "We have two men who seem to have different visions of the state and one of them will lead it for the next four years. I think that matters a lot and we need to pay attention."

Rachael Hartley of Mobile just shook her head at the question of why should people care.

"I'm not sure I can speak to why everyone should care but I know why I care. I care about people who need their government to care about them, care about their need for good jobs, good schools for their kids and good health care when they are sick. I think we all need to care about those things."

Reshad Hudson of Alabaster said he cares about the race for governor because he cares about the economy and equality.

"The whole country went through the recession but a number of states seem to be doing better now than Alabama is and that is a worry, especially if you are concerned about finding a job after college," said Hudson. "Also, I think the whole issue of equality of opportunity is so important for all of us. It matters who our leaders are and it matters that they care about working to make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. ...You have to care."